slavfile 2014 3 summer

SlavFileIn this issue:

2014 SLD Banquet .......................................................... 3Fred Grasso Moscow 1990-2014 ....................................................…. 4James Shipp Corporatization of Translation…… ................................... 7Vadim Khazin 2014 UTIC Conference in Kyiv ........................................ 8

CONFERENCE REVIEWIrina Jesionowski Tsaplina on Rules for Conference Interpreting ............... 9

SlavFile Lite .................................................................... 12Susan Welsh Film Review of White Guard .......................................... 14Martha KosirPoetry of Primož Čučnik ................................................. 19Steve Shabad The Return of False Cognates Part III ........................... 23

Summer 2014 Vol. 23, No. 3

NEWSLETTER OF THE SLAVIC LANGUAGES DIVISIONwww.ata-divisions.org/SLD/slavfile.htm

Diary of an AdministratorLucy Gunderson, SLD Administrator

In the world the SLD admin-istration, the first six months of the year are the busiest. This is the time when we seek out can-didates for the Greiss lecture, approach potential conference speakers, review session propos-als, and plan our banquet and newcomer activities. When June rolls around (and we’ve finished writing our summer columns), we division officers and Leadership Council members breathe a sigh of relief and settle back to relax until the run-up to the conference, when things start to get hectic again.

So now I’m happy to report to you that ATA55 promises to be an interesting and entertaining confer-ence for the SLD. Our Greiss lecturer will be Sophia Lubensky, author of the Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms, a revised edition of which has recently been released by Yale University Press. Professor Lubensky is also the principal author of Nachalo, a beginning Russian textbook, Advanced Russian: From Speaking to Reading, and numerous articles on the Russian language and translation. She also happens to have been my professor when I was in graduate school at the University at Albany, and I can guarantee that her talk, entitled “The Translator and the Dictionary,” will give us some fascinating insights into working with idioms.

The other seven SLD sessions are: “Recent Trends in Contemporary Written Russian” (Elizabeth Macheret); “Cut It Out: Improving Readability

PREPARE YOURSELF FOR ATA55 IN CHICAGO

SlavFile Summer 2014

SLAVIC LANGUAGES DIVISIONOFFICERS

Administrator: Lucy Gunderson [email protected]

Assistant Administrator: Fred Grasso [email protected]

SlavFile is published four times yearly.

Articles of interest to Slavic translators and interpreters are invited.

Designation of Slavic Languages Division membership on ATA membership application

or renewal form provides full membership.

Write to ATA, 225 Reinekers Lane Alexandria, VA 22314

Submissions become the property of SlavFile and are subject to editing.

Opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent

the views of the Editor or of the Division.

Editor: Lydia Razran Stone [email protected]

Associate Editor: Liv Bliss [email protected]

Associate Editor: Nora Favorov [email protected]

Associate Editor: Galina Raff (Russian, Layout) [email protected]

EDITORIAL BOARD

Yuliya Baldwin [email protected]

Ekaterina Howard (Proofreader) [email protected]

Stephen Dickey and Janja Pavetić-Dickey (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian)

[email protected]; [email protected]

Jennifer L. Guernsey [email protected]

Michael Ishenko [email protected]

Katarzyna Jankowski (Polish) [email protected]

Martha Kosir (Poetry) [email protected]

Vladimir Kovner [email protected]

Christina Sever [email protected]

Lynn Visson [email protected]

Susan Welsh (Films) [email protected]

in Russian>English Technical Translations” (John Riedl and Jennifer Guernsey); “This, That, and the Other: Translating Articles and Demonstratives between English and Slavic Languages” (Christine Pawlowski, Emilia Balke, Olga Shostachuk, Laurence Bogoslaw, and Larisa Zlatic); “Son of Sound Effects” (Svetlana Beloshapkina, Elena Bogdanovich-Werner, and Lydia Stone); “Interpreting for International Visitors: Hot Pursuit of Happiness” (Irina Jesionowski); “The Visibility Dilemma: Translating Women’s Job Titles” (Laurence Bogoslaw); and “Staying Trendy in Slavic: Translating Polish Constructions Expressing Changing Trends, Ratios, and Numerical Figures” (Daniel Sax). Abstracts from these sessions will be available on-line. Conference information can be found in the preliminary pro-gram, which should be arriving in your mailboxes soon, if it hasn’t already. The fall issue of SlavFile will also contain those abstracts, along with some from other tracks that may be of special interest to SLD members.

I would like to thank all the people who submitted proposals. This year we had 12 submissions and ended with eight slots. The final decision on sessions lies with the Conference Organizer, but Fred and I pushed very hard for all our proposals.

Our banquet will be held at Sayat Nova Restaurant (www.say-atnovachicago.com), which is just a short walk from the hotel and specializes in Armenian cuisine. Please see the announcement on page 3 for more information. Special thanks to Ksenia Kologrieva, wife of Leadership Council member Todd Jackson, for arranging the banquet and using her sharp negotiating skills to get us a great ticket price.

The newcomer lunch will be held on Thursday, November 6. Look for further information on social media and in the fall SlavFile.

In other news, Leadership Council member Ekaterina Howard prepared a video greeting to be shown at UTIC’s conference in May. The video can be viewed here. SLD member Vadim Khazin has kindly provided us with a conference report, which can be read on page 8.

That’s all our news for now. Please remember to check our web-site (www.atasld.org), Twitter feed (@ATA_SLD), and LinkedIn group for the latest news and updates, and also please consider making your own contribution to any of these.

Best wishes to everyone for a sunny summer!

SlavFile Recommends: An interview with SlavFile editor and SLD member, Liv Bliss, on her translation of The Pet Hawk of the House of Abbas by Dmitry Chen (the first volume of the Silk Road Trilogy) on the website http://newbooksinhistoricalfiction.com/. This work was an enormous bestseller in Russia and reports are that the translation is “superb.”

http://www.sayatnovachicago.com


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0-G1wD_ZHSWT181MVV1Q2gtSWM/edit?usp=sharing

http://www.atasld.org


M E N U• Appetizers served family style:

• Hummus — A special chick pea dip, a delicate blend of tahini, fresh lemon juice and garlic, garnished with a splash of olive oil and parsley,

• Jajic — Creamy garlic yogurt mixed with crisp cucumbers and mint.

• Your choice of either:

• Red Lentil Soup — A hearty mixture of red lentils, onions, carrots and celery served piping hot); or

• House Green Salad

• Choice of entrée (Please note: Most of the selections can be made gluten free; ask your server):

• Lulla Kebab — Combination of lean ground beef and lamb mixed with parsley, onions and aromatic spices, then charbroiled.

• Chicken Kebab — Marinated boneless skinless chicken breast charbroiled until tender.

• Kebab Combo — A tasty combination of charbroiled beef, chicken and lulla kebabs.

• Vegetarian Combo — A delicious combination of spinach boereg, taboule, rice, hot plaki and Armenian spinach.

• Vegetarian Cous Cous — Assorted fresh vegetables and steamed semolina gently cooked in a light tomato sauce.

• Lamb Cous Cous — Tender lamb, fresh vegetables and steamed semolina, cooked in a light tomato broth.

o Tea, coffee or a soft drink included in the dinner price.

Price: $35 per person, including tax and gratuity

Guests make the main course menu selection at the event; alcoholic beverages are available for purchase. Vegetarian options are included in the menu selections. Please coordinate any other special dietary requirements with Fred Grasso ([email protected]) by 10/23/2014.

Transportation: A 10 minute walk (0.4 mi.) from the conference hotel to the restaurant.

SLD 2014 Banquet Thursday, November 6, 7:00 PM at

SAYAT NOVA (www.sayatnovachicago.com)157 East Ohio Street, Chicago, IL 60611

312-644-9159“Chicago’s original Armenian restaurant”

Payment of $35.00 should be made by PayPal (preferred) or check received on or before Thursday, 10/23/2013.• Pay via PayPal: Go to the

PayPal website (www.paypal.com) and select the “Send money to a friend” tab. Enter the amount ($35.00). In Step 2, use the following e-mail address: [email protected].

• Pay by check: Mail a check made out to Fred Grasso addressed as follows:

Fred Grasso 14414 Indian Woods

San Antonio, TX 78249-2054

mailto:[email protected]



Leningrad/Moscow — October 1990: My first visit to the Soviet Union was inauspicious. My former career as an intelligence analyst had focused on Soviet military capabilities that were state of the art at the time. I had been restricted from obtaining first-hand knowledge on the ground, and it was only natural for me to assume that the country’s civilian infrastructure was on an equal footing. With that frame of mind, ar-riving at then Leningrad’s Pulkovo airport as a tourist in October 1990 was a startling revelation. The tarmac was lined by rusting hulks of military and civilian air-craft, the taxiways were in disrepair, the ground sup-port equipment was antiquated and obviously in need of replacement, and the terminal was dimly lit and di-lapidated. Except for some historical landmarks, the dismal picture was duplicated in Leningrad proper.

The trip eventually ended in Moscow, the politi-cal and financial epicenter of the Soviet Union. Surely Moscow would reflect the best the system had to offer, and maybe it did at one time. However, Sheremetyevo airport was in no better condition than Pulkovo. The city itself was steeped in history, but the impact was dulled by grime and choking smog. The city was large-ly devoid of color and appeared to be a uniform shade of gray that faded away into the smog. Moscow’s polit-ical system and infrastructure were deteriorating due to neglect and political mismanagement.

Moscow — December 1991: The leaders of the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Federation, and, ironically, Ukraine met near Brest in Belarus to cre-ate the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Eight other former Soviet Republics joined the CIS later that same month. The president of the Soviet Union resigned his post on December 25, 1991. That same evening the Soviet colors were struck from the Kremlin, to be replaced by the flag of the Russian Federation, and the Soviet Union formally ceased to exist the next day.

Moscow — January 1992: I arrived in the capi-tal of the newly established Russian Federation just three weeks following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, this time on business. It was the first of many trips over the next six years, including nearly two years working in Moscow on assignment. Business took me to various parts of Russia and to some of the other newly independent former Soviet republics. Everywhere in Russia and the former republics, the picture was the same: grim and hardscrabble, varying

only by degree from location to loca-tion. In my opinion, what was keeping the country running was not the govern-ment but the perse-verance, determina-tion, and resilience of its inhabitants.

My family and I departed Russia in late 1997. I left Russia, but Russia — the language, history, culture, friends, and the disarray — did not leave me. The sum total of the travel and experiences just described pre-determined my mindset while preparing for a long-delayed visit to Russia this past spring.

Moscow — May 2014: Standing in the lobby of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory’s Great Hall, I’m still stunned by the evening’s performance and disorient-ed by what I’m seeing and what I’ve experienced since my arrival. The Aleksandrov Ensemble had just fin-ished a moving performance in honor of Victory Day, still several days away. I have several of the group’s CDs, but they pale in comparison to a live perfor-mance. Given the opportunity, they are not to be missed.

Not to be outshone, the Great Hall’s foyer, lobby, and theater have undergone complete restoration. At the far end of the Great Hall’s lobby stands a white marble bust of Tchaikovsky that is mounted on a large wooden pedestal about six feet tall. The likeness is dramatic, flamboyant, and, I would say, romanticized, which could also describe Tchaikovsky’s composi-tions. The entire presentation is quite impressive.

I was waiting next to the pedestal under Pyotr Ilych’s watchful gaze when an elderly gentleman ap-proached. Short in stature and wearing glasses, he wore jeans, a denim shirt, and a denim jacket tied around his waist. His full head of silver and gray hair reached to his shoulders, and a matching beard hung halfway down his chest. I surmised from his deeply wrinkled face that he likely had worked outdoors for his livelihood. With a wry smile and glint in his eye that hinted of both intelligence and perhaps mischief, he stopped a few feet away from the pedestal and, with arms folded across his chest in a contemplative pose, he gazed intently at the bust.

After a minute or so he moved a few steps to the side to gain a different perspective. He then looked

MOSCOW 1990–2014: THEN AND NOWA Quarter Century of Transformation

Fred Grasso, SLD Assistant Administrator


at me and at no one in particular and commented: “It’s not his likeness.” Granted, there’s certainly a difference between the bronze, seated sculpture of Tchaikovsky that stands in front of the Conservatory and the marble bust in the lobby. The former is true to life while the latter is romanticized; however, in my layman’s opinion, both are unmistakably Tchaikovsky. Not wanting to argue the point, I was politely non-committal, and the gentleman continued his inspec-tion. After a full circuit of the pedestal and further contemplation, he observed that the sculptor was not identified. With that same smile and glint, his final droll comment before nodding his head in my direc-tion and walking away was, “The author’s probably embarrassed.”

Although not immediately apparent, the encounter was one of the more memorable moments of my trip. It’s one of those events that at first glance is seeming-ly inconsequential, but the incident stuck in my mind nonetheless. After several days it occurred to me that we — the bearded gentleman and I — had a similar problem. He was unable to reconcile his mental image of Tchaikovsky with the artist’s rendition. As for me, it was exceedingly difficult — even disorienting — to reconcile my image of Russia formed during the Cold War and the chaos during and following the collapse of the Soviet Union with today’s Moscow.

Before my departure, the ingrained Cold War im-age was intensified by recent events in Russia’s “near abroad.” My visa application was submitted on the same day that then Ukrainian President Yanukovych fled Kyiv. Five days later, pro-Russian forces and sus-pected Russian operatives began their takeover of the Crimean peninsula. Mutual admonitions and recrimi-nations inevitably followed between Russia and the West, and visa and other sanctions were imposed. Welcome to Cold War 2.0, or so it seemed.

Given recent political developments and press re-ports of anti-American sentiment in Moscow, I con-sidered it prudent to take precautions that were stan-dard for reconnaissance missions but never previously contemplated when preparing for a business trip. My wardrobe was “sanitized” (no obvious English lan-guage labels, insignia, trademarks), and my travel portfolio contained cash, the minimum required iden-tification documents, a credit card, and three plastic metro tokens. As it turned out, the precautions were unnecessary, and any pre-departure apprehensions were entirely baseless.

The first mental disconnect occurred on arrival at Sheremetyevo. The runway, taxiways, and ground support equipment were modern and well maintained in every respect. Frequent visitors to Moscow in the

‘90s will remember running the passport control, bag-gage, customs inspection, and “taxi mafia” gauntlets, and the inordinate amount of time and patience need-ed to do so. This time I was comfortably seated in the back of a cab less than an hour after arrival; more sur-prising still, the driver did not smoke in my presence.

After more than a hundred previous trips to Sheremetyevo airport, I was anticipating familiar sights along the route into the city. What I experi-enced instead was a serious case of geographic disori-entation; there were no familiar sights except for brief glimpses of some familiar skyline landmarks. Both the highway from the airport and the interchange connecting it with Leningradsky prospekt have been completely rebuilt. As a result, the tank trap located in Khimki that marks the German army’s closest ad-vance to Moscow during the Great Patriotic War was not visible.

The route taken by the driver from Sheremetyevo airport (outside the MKAD — the outer ring road — northeast of Moscow) to my host’s apartment (far southwest Moscow just inside the MKAD) was also unfamiliar, as were the makes and models of the pas-senger vehicles and trucks on the highway. Gone were the old Ladas, Zhigulis, and exhaust-belching GAZ trucks, replaced by new or late model Chevys, Fords, Audis, the occasional Jaguar or Bentley, and trucks manufactured by Volvo and Mercedes. Unlike the ‘90s, when road markings and traffic signals were considered mere suggestions, these drivers main-tained their lanes, did not cross into an oncoming lane to avoid a traffic jam, did not flash a weapon when do-ing so, and refrained from driving on the sidewalks. Minus the signage in Cyrillic, it could have been any-where in Europe. But this was Moscow.

The next surprise occurred the following day, on the metro. The aforementioned plastic metro tokens had long since passed from the scene and were no lon-ger accepted; however, my host wanted them as keep-sakes and collector’s items. Not just the tokens but the entire system had seen major changes: new stations had been added and existing stations renovated. Even the rolling stock had been replaced or modernized. The Mayakovskaya metro station is a prime example; it absolutely sparkles. Even the steps leading down from street level, previously worn by heavy foot traffic, have been replaced.

Wi-Fi is now available on the Moscow metro sys-tem, creating a definite demarcation along age lines. The under-40 crowd comes equipped with earbuds, iPads, tablets, and laptops, while those more senior still stick to the printed page. Regardless of age, if a rider wears an article of clothing that displays a label,


logo, trademark, or text, it’s invariably in English. Sanitizing my travel wardrobe had been a waste of time.

As for Moscow itself, it would be impossible to de-scribe all the changes. Suffice it to say that the city — especially the area inside the Garden Ring — has un-dergone and is still undergoing major changes. Plans for the New Moscow territories call for even more changes. My host remarked that the city is one big construction site. That observation was confirmed by the number of construction cranes visible through-out the city. The only obvious remaining blight on the center-city landscape is the ugly scar left where the Rossiya Hotel once stood. Some things were notice-able by their near-total absence: GAIshniki and their striped wands; militsiya on the street demanding travel documents; and potholes.

Commercialization is widespread; there are stores and restaurants everywhere, especially around the major metro stations. You don’t have to stand in three lines to make a purchase, and, for the most part, a customer service attitude has taken hold. Commercialization and advertisement go hand in hand, and advertisements are everywhere. The lin-guist in me cringed somewhat at the ubiquitous use of “сэндвич” and “бизнес ланч.” Nevertheless, several “Russ-lish” neologisms (or at least new to me) caught my eye. “Кэшбэк” and “бэстселлер” were seen on ads for luxury cars, and “фрилэнсер” was used in video ads to extol the advantages of being an independent contractor.

Construction and restoration projects are not lim-ited to central Moscow. To appreciate Moscow’s meta-morphosis fully, take the Zamoskvoretskaya/Green line to Tsaritsino. The main entrance to Tsaritsino Park is by the metro station. From there you can walk the length of the park to the Orekhovo metro station. While there, take time to visit the Tsaritsino Palace complex. Construction was started by Catherine the Great in the 18th century but never completed, and it

eventually fell to ruin. Completely reconstructed in 2007, the complex now houses a museum of history and art. Make it a day and stay for the evening perfor-mance of the musical fountain complete with coordi-nated music and light show.

Take another day to explore the Kolomenskoye es-tate. Take the same metro line to Kashirskaya at the south end of the estate. From there it’s a short walk to Tsar Alexei’s Palace. Opened in 2010, the build-ing is a reconstruction of a wooden palace originally built in the 16th century and demolished in the 18th. Going on, take a pleasant stroll north for splendid views of the Moscow River. On this day — one of only two balmy spring days of the trip — the wide footpath was bordered by a riot of color from tulip beds, sev-eral apple orchards, lilacs, and a cherry orchard. An occasional gust of wind created a faux snowstorm of white apple-blossom petals. After crossing a steep ra-vine, a wide brick path slopes upward to the Church of the Ascension. The church has been restored to its for-mer glory, and together the church and its setting are breathtaking.

The impression was all the more stunning be-cause of the stark contrast between what I was see-ing and the mental pictures from the past. In 1997, the wooden palace existed only on paper, the Church of the Ascension was in dire need of repair, the grounds were overgrown, and the curators of the Kolomenskoye complex lacked the funds for needed maintenance and repair.

The final revelation occurred when it came time to leave Moscow. Airport security was thorough but less intrusive and more efficient than that typical-ly encountered on this side of the Atlantic, and the terminal itself is as modern as any I’ve encountered. Although the Soviet Union is no more, Moscow was and is still the political and financial epicenter of Russia, and is striving to be the linchpin of a Eurasian economic alliance. It is unrealistic to expect that the city would remain static over the course of nearly two decades. Frequent visitors might view the changes as gradual and incremental. For me, they were radical and overwhelming.

Fred Grasso completed Russian language training with the Defense Language Institute through the advanced level, received additional Russian language training with the National Security Agency, and spent twenty years as a Department of Defense translator/transcriptionist. Following that, he traveled extensively throughout the former Soviet Union, eventually residing in Moscow while working as a business developer for major oil companies. He is currently a full-time freelance technical editor/translator specializing in oil and gas legal translations. Fred Grasso has a Bachelor’s degree in Slavic Languages and a Master’s degree in International Relations. He also holds a Juris Doctor and is licensed to practice law in Texas. He can be contacted at [email protected].

The structure in the background is a pedestrian bridge that leads to the main Tsaritsino palace complex. Derelict in 1997, the bridge is now fully restored.


I love my profession. I have always loved it. That’s why I am extremely concerned by certain unsavory trends in the industry.

CAT ToolsSo-called CAT tools are the biggest hoax ever per-

petrated on the translation community. They are ex-pensive to obtain and maintain, difficult to learn, and cumbersome to use. They make the translator’s task more difficult and diminish the quality of the final product, as well as its value. They cannot perform es-sential Internet research, work with scanned docu-ments, or manipulate graphics. They are not intuitive, as a translator must be. They are demeaning to the translator as a human being.

Circular TranslationSo-called circular translation is a process wherein

a completed translation comes back to the translator, sometimes weeks after its submittal, so the translator can “edit the editor.” The translator is expected to halt paying translation work and perform this nontransla-tion task free of charge. First of all, I am not an editor, I am a translator. You don’t ask a barber to trim your nails, you ask a manicurist. Secondly, once a transla-tion containing my best effort leaves my desk, it is up to the client, the client’s editor, the end client, and the end client’s editor to make any changes in it. I am ea-ger to learn and I always appreciate feedback on my work, but it is not my job as a translator to perform this task for you.

Workflow SystemsThe advent of so-called workflow systems has be-

gun to impact my work. The client sets up an internal system whereby you are expected to download source documents, then upload target documents and invoic-es, effectively shifting document control functions to the translator for no extra pay. First of all, you end up with an entire Rolodex full of user IDs and passwords for the various workflow systems of different clients. Secondly, what could possibly be easier than the origi-nal time-tested system: You e-mail me a source docu-ment, I e-mail you a target document, and you mail me a check.

DeadlinesIf the client agrees to an impossible end client

deadline, that is not my problem. I already work from 5:00 a.m. till 7:00 p.m., seven days a week, 365 days a year, sometimes longer. I generate at least 4,000 pre-mium words a day. I am not willing to do more than that for any amount of money, and you cannot seek to shame me into doing it.

EditingAn extremely disturbing trend in the translation

industry is the editing of source>target documents by target>source translators. This is impermissible. If, say, an E>R translator were qualified to edit R>E work, he or she would then be an R>E translator. If E>R translators are not competent to translate a doc-ument, they are certainly not competent to edit it.

PaymentNewly emerging clients keep trying to get me to

work by the source word. This is like paying a car-penter for the wood he uses rather than the house he builds. I must be paid for the words I actually pro-duce, not the words from which I produce them. I will not sustain a 35% loss of pay because you have made a source word deal with your client.

Some clients are on a 45- or 60-day pay cycle. This is ridiculous. They want their translations “yesterday,” then expect me to wait as much as two months to get paid. All my creditors are on a 30-day cycle, so I must be as well. I allow 30 days for payment, plus 5 days mail time. This is far more reasonable than the dead-lines I am given. Quid pro quo.

THE CORPORATIZATION OF TRANSLATIONJames F. Shipp

Would readers (native speakers of either Russian or English) who are willing to take a brief survey on the words they would use to identify sounds please contact Lydia Stone at [email protected]? The survey will be sent and returned by email. She would be most grateful.

From the editors: An earlier version of this strongly worded opinion piece was published on the Yahoo Russian Translators Group. It received more comment (virtually all of it positive) from readers than anything we can remember. We sought and have received ATA’s permission to publish it and fully intend to publish reader responses, both positive and negative, in future SlavFile issues.

Continued on page 8


Translator-Client RelationsThe client is buying the translator’s product.

The translator is the vendor. As such, the transac-tion terms belong to the translator. You don’t buy a TV or a refrigerator, then tell the seller how you in-tend to pay for it. The same thing is true of a transla-tion. Translators are not employees, but independent contractors. The lack of benefits and the existence of heavy tax bills prove this. Do not let a “customer” bul-ly you in your own “store.”

I have been a paid professional translator for 46 years. I have championed translator rights for almost half a century. I helped found the only true trans-lators’ union in the country (which has foundered

due to lack of community support but continues to breathe). If you want me to keep quiet about the dig-nity and integrity of translators, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait a few more years until I shuffle off to that Great Translatorium in the sky. Good translating, Jim Shipp

James Shipp has been working as a Russian to English translator since the mid-1960s. He received a presidential letter of commendation for information provided during the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, and was the International Monetary Fund’s translator in Moscow when Gorbachev surrendered power to Yeltsin. For most of the period since 1979 Mr. Shipp has worked as a freelance translator. He is a founding member of the Translators (later Translators and Interpreters) Guild, the only translators’ union in the United States. He is the author of five Russian-English dictionaries, as well as more than 80 newsletter and newspaper articles on various aspects of translation work. He can be reached at [email protected].

Note that the conference was held during a pe-riod of relative calm in Ukraine’s capital Kiev/Kyiv where the conference took place, and Vadim reports that he heard no discussion of the conflicts or their consequences and witnessed no particular sense of crisis at the conference.

The 2nd UTIC (Ukrainian Translation Industry Conference) took place in Kyiv on May 17–18, 2014. It started with greetings made in person or by video at the Opening Ceremony by several translators’ as-sociations, in this order: GALA (Globalization and Localization Association), ATA, ELIA (European Language Industry Association), TFR (Translation Forum Russia). The ATA greeting was presented in three parts: first, a video of a speech by Irina Knizhnik in Ukrainian; second, my live speech (also in Ukrainian) in which I promoted ATA certification and emphasized in-creased interest in the U.S. in Ukraine and the Ukrainian language due to current events; and third, the rest of our Division’s video with photos.

Among the UTIC participants were also SLD members Maksym Kozub and Konstantin Lakshin (who made a presentation wittily entitled “CATs: All Meow and No Mice?”). Translators and businessmen from other countries (mostly European) also participated.

Presentations were made (in Ukrainian, Russian, or English with simultane-ous interpretation) in three parallel tracks: The Art of Translation; Translation Technologies and Localization; and The Business of Translation. The first of these was devoted not only to written translation but to interpretation as well. One of the presentations I found most interesting was “Interpretation in Suggested Circumstances,” given by Sergiy Sarzhevsky, a prominent Ukrainian simultane-ous interpreter of TV, movies, and other events. Other presentations I attended and enjoyed were devoted to

technical translations (by Israel Shalyt) and to the di-versification of income-gen-erating sources (by Oleg Rudavin).

A number of presenta-tions were devoted to the teaching of translators and interpreters, and to trans-lation marketing, manage-ment, and business. There were also several training sessions.”

To the left is the very cordial letter UTIC sent to thank us for our support.

The Second UTIC ConferenceVadim Khazin

Continued from page 7

THE CORPORATIZATION OF TRANSLATION

https://drive.google.com/#folders/0B9rPKveEirKRcHUzUEU3blhMWUk


CONFERENCE REVIEW The Dos and Taboos of Conference Interpreting and Why You Should Heed Them Presented by Yuliya Tsaplina Reviewed by Irina Jesionowski

On the Importance of Soft Skills

An interpreter can be sure that he or she is doing a good job when listeners forget that they are communicating through a

third person, and that they do not share a common language or in many cases a common culture — in other words, when they forget the existence of a lan-guage barrier between them. Such rare moments of peak performance fill our hearts with joy and make all the years of blood, toil, tears, and sweat seem worth-while. However, to achieve this level of professional-ism, interpreters need to perfect not only their core skills — command of interpretation techniques and subject-matter knowledge — but also a complex tapes-try of soft skills that include common sense, the abil-ity to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people, and a positive, flexible attitude.

I applaud Yuliya Tsaplina’s continuous effort to ed-ucate aspiring conference interpreters on various be-havioral and emotional competencies — from booth manners to market manners — that make or break careers.

A good portion of Yuliya’s presentation on “The Dos and Taboos of Conference Interpreting” at the 2013 ATA Annual Conference was based on the “Practical Guide for Professional Conference Interpreters,” available on the AIIC website (http://aiic.net/page/628/practical-guide-for-professional-conference-interpreters/lang/1#1), and she delivered this content with her characteristic wit, charm, and eloquence.

Here are several nuggets of wisdom Yuliya shared with those who came to her session.

Yuliya Tsaplina has a BA in economics from New York University and an MA in conference interpreting from L’École Supérieure d’Interprètes et de Traducteurs, the Graduate School of Translation and Interpreting at the Sorbonne in Paris. An experienced conference interpreter, she has worked for heads of state and government officials, executives of major corporations, and international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the United Nations. She works in Russian, English and French. In addition to ATA, she is a member of the U.S. Regional Bureau of the International Association of Conference Interpreters and the American Association of Language Specialists.

Fools Rush in Where Angels Fear to TreadLet us be frank, our work can be addictive — in a

good way, of course. Most of us find the process of interpretation to be exhilarating, stimulating, and endorphin producing. Usually, we are thrilled to be contacted regarding a potential assignment. Our first instinct, especially if we have just started working in the field, is to scream “Yes! I am available!” and we are proud of ourselves if we manage to tone down our excitement, even if the initial e-mail or phone call is just an inquiry regarding our potential availability for a job that might or might not take place in the future.

This is the very moment when we thrill-seekers need to curb our enthusiasm, regain our cool, and ask some hard questions.

• How many language combinations will I be expected to cover? What is the subject matter? What is my level of proficiency in this specific field?

• Am I indeed available on the required dates or might there be a scheduling conflict?

• What type of event are we talking about — a conference, a round-table discussion, a negotia-tion, a tour, or a combination of all the above?

• Will the contracting entity allow me to choose my boothmate?

Interpreters should not accept an assignment for which they are not qualified. This principle seems to be a no-brainer, a categorical imperative, yet the ma-jority of interpretation practitioners have had to deal with a grossly inept “colleague” at least once in the course of their careers. The ability to assess one’s level of competence with brutal honesty is an attribute of a true professional.


CONFERENCE REVIEWNever Assume Anything

Hopefully, the project discussion moves from the inquiry stage to the option stage — i.e., a job offer that is subject to confirmation — and, finally, to the firm offer stage. Once the job is scheduled, the best way to avoid any unpleasant surprises during the upcoming assignment is to have a written contract between the interpreter and the contracting entity.

Unfortunately, many interpreters learn the impor-tance of a well-drafted contract the hard way. During Yulia’s session, several conference attendees shared horror stories that involved no-show boothmates, cry-ing boothmates, having their renditions unexpectedly picked up for media broadcasts, and in one case four language teams delivering simultaneous interpreta-tion in a small room using portable equipment rather than in separate booths. A binding document might not provide 100% insurance against such unpleas-ant situations, but it will definitely put interpreters in a more advantageous position should such situations occur.

Negotiating a contract is a fine balancing act that requires masterful diplomatic skills. On the one hand, you do not want to create the impression that you are a prima donna. But on the other hand, you can-not afford to be a pushover and agree to subpar work-ing conditions that might negatively affect the qual-ity of your services and jeopardize your professional reputation.

A comprehensive contract, in addition to payment terms, should stipulate, as a bare minimum:

• working conditions (booths, equipment, audi-bility and visibility, and technical support)

• event format• interpretation modes• compensation for preparation time• cancellation fee• working hours and overtime pay• team composition: number of language combi-

nations, interpretation direction(s), relay, pivot, team leader, boothmates, contingency plans, etc.

• availability of preparation materials• travel and accommodation terms• terms for recording and broadcasting interpre-

tation rendition.Consulting “AIIC Professional Standards” (http://

aiic.net/page/205), “Memorandum Concerning the Use of Recordings of Interpretation at Conferences” (http://aiic.net/page/58/memorandum-concerning-the-use-of-recordings-of-interpretation-at-conferenc-

es/lang/1), and “On the Use of Standardized Booths” (http://aiic.net/page/2542/on-the-use-of-stan-dardised-booths-for-optimal-interpreting-quality/lang/1 ) is a good starting point for drafting a contract or asking for changes in an existing one.

We Hold These Truths to Be Self-Evident, that Thou Shalt Come Prepared and Mind

Thy Booth MannersIn our predominantly freelance market, very few

professional interpreters have the luxury of special-izing in just one or two subject areas. While develop-ing extensive expertise in several narrow fields is es-sential for achieving success, the majority of us must also become proficient in a broad range of topics. To be of use to our customers, we need to develop fluen-cy in the languages of specific industries and organi-zations — legalese, medicalese, StateDepartmentese, GeneralMotorsese, and many others. This requires thorough and diligent preparation for each interpreta-tion event.

Every interpreter should become familiar with con-ference materials (agenda; speakers’ names, titles, and bios; documents to be discussed; PowerPoint slides and notes; speech drafts; videos, etc.), attend pre-con-ference briefings, and prepare his/her own glossaries of terms that, ideally, should be discussed and agreed upon with the future boothmate. Earning the reputa-tion of a “glossary slacker” is the quickest way to kill one’s career.

We are not in the business of pushing words; we are in the business of service and in the business of communication. We serve our customers by enabling them to communicate with their foreign counter-parts, and to do this well, we need to work as a team. Conference organizers, sound engineers, technicians, your interpreter-colleagues working in different lan-guage combinations, even speakers — we are all mem-bers of a single team.

Still, our boothmate is our most valuable ally. Our boothmate will have our back if the right equivalent does not come to mind. Our boothmate will write down numbers, proper nouns, and acronyms for us clearly and legibly if we are struggling to keep up with the speaker. A good boothmate, for example, may ob-tain the text of a speech that was not available earlier and find the Russian translation of the Shakespearean quote that appears at the end of the presentation. Such allies deserve the very best treatment! This means:

http://aiic.net/page/205

http://aiic.net/page/205

http://aiic.net/page/58/memorandum-concerning-the-use-of-recordings-of-interpretation-at-conferences/lang/1



http://aiic.net/page/2542/on-the-use-of-standardised-booths-for-optimal-interpreting-quality/lang/1




CONFERENCE REVIEW• not wearing heavy perfume; in fact, no perfume

or other strongly scented products at all• never abandoning your partner for longer than

is absolutely necessary• never touching your boothmate’s microphone• discussing each other’s preferences and agree-

ing on working conditions beforehand• ensuring a seamless switch-over between the in-

terpreters (changing interpreters in the middle of a sentence is never a good idea)

• agreeing on whether or not to provide feedback on each other’s performance

• being quiet while you are not interpreting (no disruptive keyboarding, paper rustling, or au-dible water pouring)

• being helpful, kind, and considerate.This is a very brief account of the dos and ta-

boos of conference interpreting. Real life experience will expand this list greatly. When in doubt, you can

always turn to the treasure-trove of collective wisdom amassed on the AIIC website (http://aiic.net ).

In the meantime, on behalf of all practitioners, I would like to thank Yuliya Tsaplina for promoting AIIC standards and championing best practices in our industry.

Happy interpreting!

Irina Jesionowski is a native of Volgograd, Russia, where she completed a five-year university course of study in history, sociology, and linguistics. She is a certified Russian court interpreter, a conference interpreter, and a contract interpreter with the Office of Language Services at the U.S. Department of State. Irina has worked as a language professional in the U.S. since 2002. She is an alumna of the Cambridge (U.K.) Conference Interpreting Course and of translation and interpretation programs at the University of Chicago and at the University of Massachusetts. Since 2008, she has been serving as a Curriculum Designer and Content Developer at Interpreter Education Online. You can reach her at [email protected]

READERS: DO YOU FIND OUR FILLERS

BORING?

Sometimes we do too. We welcome any contributions of short items. Please give

attribution where appropriate.

On the right: Sand sculpture in Kolomenskoye Park, Moscow, with sand Peter II in background.

Below: Peter the Great, Recast in Sand.Kolomenskoye Park, Moscow.

Credit: 3yearsinMoscow.blogspot.com

Russian Icons Recreated in Sand

http://aiic.net



SLAVFILE LITE: NOT BY WORD COUNT ALONELydia Razran Stone

My pretensions to (not to mention qualifications for) punditry are limited to the linguistic and the liter-ary. This column is specifically devoted to humor, lan-guage, literature and culture. It would be wildly inap-propriate for me, or anyone else writing in SlavFile, to pontificate about the distressing situation in Ukraine, much less to take sides in these pages. On the other hand, it also seems terribly wrong to go on with busi-ness as usual, failing to acknowledge events disrupt-ing and taking lives in the nations to whose languages most SlavFile readers have devoted our careers — in-cluding potentially those of our T and I counterparts. I suppose the only acceptable middle ground is to say that I and others on the SLD Leadership Council and SlavFile Editorial Board are following events with in-tense attention and wish to express our sympathy for all those who have suffered or will suffer in the cur-rent conflict. They are in our thoughts daily.

***As usual, I have been on the alert for mistransla-

tions from Russian and other howlers in the press and Internet news reports. Susan Welsh sent me one she encountered recently:

The Associated Press, citing Putin: “I have a feeling that they sit somewhere in a lab in America over a big puddle and conduct experi-ments, as if with rats, without understanding the consequences of what they are doing.”Over a big puddle?? Went to look at the Russian on that one. He said “за лужей” (za luzhey), which is exactly “across the pond,” as in the Atlantic Ocean.

Here are a couple that I (Lydia) found in The Washington Post. I think the first requires no com-ment. It comes from an article titled “Ukraine tries to quell unrest in east” and contains the following line: “A group broke into song, belting out a World War II favorite about Katyusha rockets” (italics added).

And here is another from The Post, quoting a Ukrainian, who, however was evidently speaking Russian. “We live in Ukraine, not in Russia. If some-body would like to live in Russia — then, pass the butter, move yourself to Russia.” Absolutely stumped as to what the original phrase might have been (not to mention what it might have meant) and unable to find any suitable candidates in my idiom diction-aries or on the web, I turned to the Yahoo Russian Translators group and received a number of interest-ing but ultimately unsatisfying and incorrect conjec-tures. (Note: One of the respondents thought he had

found the phrase as an English id-iom, but was reluctant to give the supposed meaning since it was ap-pallingly nasty and obscene. I im-mediately guessed he had found it on the Urban Dictionary website, in which someone has contribut-ed an obscene meaning for virtu-ally every innocuous idiom I have ever looked up. It’s user beware with the Urban Dictionary: Do not trust unless you verify.)

Finally, Emilia Balke was able to find the orig-inal and sent it on: “Кто хочет жить в России, пожалуйста, скатертью дорога.” Now the relevant Russian phrase, literally meaning “(may your) road be like a table cloth,” is, as many of you know, a rath-er common phrase that was originally a way of wish-ing a traveler “Godspeed,” roughly the equivalent of the Gaelic “may the road rise up to meet you,” and is also, perhaps even more commonly, used to mean “good-bye and good riddance” or even more colloqui-ally in English “here’s your hat and there’s the door.” Evidently the translator of this speech, certainly no native Russian speaker, not immediately recognizing the idiom (and we all know what havoc is wrought by being under a tight deadline), simply interpreted this as a random and virtually meaningless reference to kitchen matters and inserted the first English phrase that came to mind. And some overworked editor or copyeditor (or both) had too much going on to notice the peculiarity and have it checked. Somebody send these folks at the Post and AP a Lubensky!

***Speaking of Sophia Lubensky, who, as I suppose

most readers know, is the author of the definitive Russian-English Dictionary of Idioms, she is sched-uled to be our Greiss speaker in 2014 and has recently published a revised edition available for $60, less than even used copies of the out-of-print 1995 edition were selling for. We will publish an interview with her in the Fall issue of SlavFile.

My overall recommendation to anyone translating R>E without either the original or revised Lubensky, is to buy one if you ever encounter unfamiliar Russian idioms (and who doesn’t?). You will not be sorry. Nora Favorov reports: “Lately I’ve been successfully looking up things in it about 10 times/day, since I’m translat-ing a speech by Stalin and he’s a big lover of idioms.” Not only is either edition extremely comprehensive,


Continued on page 18

SLAVFILE LITEwith the current edition containing 7,500 entries cov-ering 14,000 idioms, but for each it contains extreme-ly useful information not available in any other R>E idiom dictionary I am aware of, certainly not as exten-sively. Entries include descriptions of grammatical, semantic and pragmatic contexts and limitations, of tone, register and communicative purpose, and offer a good number of alternative English translations and in most cases one or more illustrative quotation from Russian literature with published English transla-tion. See example below. As if this were not enough, the volume contains an exhaustive and extremely user friendly index so that the harried translator can be sure of finding any idiom included by searching the index for any key word. My only criticism is that I oc-casionally find it frustrating that the literal translation of each idiom is not included. Yes I can find the one or more obscure words defined elsewhere, but I con-fess that I may be too rushed or lazy to do so.

As the general assessment of the Lubensky diction-ary has been old news among R>E (as well as E>R) translators and interpreters for some time and many of us possess the 1995 edition, the question is whether or not it is worthwhile to also buy the revision. (I my-self did, noting that the Revised Edition was available at $15 less than the first edition cost 10 or 15 years ago.)

According to the preface the revised edition con-tains 550 new entries covering 900+ idioms (7% and 6%) respectively. As both a dictionary and a data freak, as well as a dedicated public servant of our elite SLD community, I decided to perform a small study. I searched the Д and X sections for new entries and found 3% (13/460) of the total for Д (see to the right)

and 14% (18/126) new entries for X. I have no expla-nation for the surprising difference in these numbers except for the well-known vagaries of language. Below is a list of all the new entries starting with Д, with barebones definitions not at all representative of the information actually presented in each, and a scan of two of the new entries in the X section to help readers with their decision.

Д: 13 new entries out of a total of 460.(No new entries before № 192.)1. № 192 — по диагонали, просмотреть — to skim,

leaf through2. № 198 — держать дистанцию — to maintain one’s

distance (from)3. № 211 — идти (пойти) ко дну — to go under; to go

downhill; to go to the dogs4. № 231 — доверяй, но проверяй — trust, but veri-

fy; better safe than sorry5. № 293 — какая досада — how annoying6. № 301 —– не успокаиваться на достигнутом —

not rest on one’s laurels7. № 312 — как дрова везет — of a vehicle driver —

to drive without considering passengers’ comfort; to drive like an idiot (madman)

8. № 314 — дрожь в коленках — (to feel) weak in the knees, to quake in one’s boots

9. № 337 — как (последний) дурак вести себя — to behave like a total idiot, prize fool

10. № 360 — в том же духе — something of that sort, along those lines

11. №. 385 — живая душа — a human being (living soul)

12. № 451 — как дырка в голове — (need) like a hole in the head

13. № 453 — как в черную дыру — as if it had fallen into a black hole, disappeared without a trace


SLAVFILMSA New Era Remakes Bulgakov’s White Guard in Its Own Image

Reviewed by Susan WelshWhite Guard (БЕЛАЯ ГВАРДИЯ), “based on the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov,” 2012, four-part Rossiya TV series, 345 minutes, in Russian online, available with English subtitles on DVDDirector: Sergei SnezhkinProducers: Sergei Melkumov, Anton Slatopolsky, Aleksandr RodnyanskyScreenplay: Sergei Snezhkin, Marina and Sergei Dyachenko

The accompanying picture of a huge crowd in Kyiv (Kiev) is not from the Maidan in 2014, but from St. Sophia Square in 1919, as presented in this film. Ukrainian nationalist Symon Petliura’s army has de-feated the tattered remnants of the White Guard, and the Ukrainian population of the city has turned out to cheer the victors. The TV serial, which bears little re-semblance to Mikhail Bulgakov’s novella of the same name on which it is supposedly based, was shown on Rossiya 1 television on March 3-4, 2012, the weekend of the Russian presidential election.

Watching from the vantage point of the 2013-14 events in Kyiv, it strikes this foreign viewer how vi-ciously anti-Ukrainian this film is. Not surprisingly, the reaction from Ukraine was sharp, both from those who aspire to an inclusive and tolerant Ukraine, and those who don’t. Oles Buzina, a reviewer at segod-nya.ua (March 30, 2012), blasted producer Aleksandr Rodnyansky for “taking Russian state funds and in-citing hatred between Ukraine and Russia, to line his pockets by igniting this hellish flame.” Vyacheslav Kirilenko, leader of the Za Ukrainu party, appealed to

the Ukrainian Cultural Ministry to ban the showing of the film, saying that it would enflame na-tional enmities and is a distor-tion of Bulgakov’s novel. “The se-rial is openly anti-Ukrainian,” he wrote, “it shows the Ukrainians as cynical chauvinists, sadists, and an-ti-Semites, when they were actually fighting for their freedom” (Ukrainskaya Pravda, April 24, 2012).

Political scientist Andrei Okara placed it in a broader perspective, commenting to the St. Petersburg press agency Rosbalt (April 17, 2012) that the image of Ukrainians on Russian TV has been changing. Instead of the good-natured bumpkins of Soviet films, Ukrainians “have turned into collabora-tionists and traitors.” He cited White Guard as one example. Another was the film The Match (Матч), about a soccer game between Nazis and Ukrainians in 1942, which premiered around the same time as this latest White Guard screen adaptation. Thirty peop-le from the ultra-right Svoboda party (until recently part of the Kyiv government) showed up at the thea-ter in Kyiv where The Match was showing, pelting the screen with eggs and shouting, “Moskali [a derogatory term for Russians] go home,” until they were arrested by the riot police.

Was it the filmmakers’ intention to fan the flames of discord between Russians and Ukrainians, and if so, why? Readers are invited to send me their own conspiracy theories.

From Snezhkin’s film: A huge crowd greets the Petliurian army as it arrives in Kyiv’s St. Sophia Square. Colonel Kozyr-Leshko, leading the column, will order his men to kill an orator who doesn’t speak Ukrainian fluently. A cavalryman does the deed with a sword.

http://russia.tv/brand/show/brand_id/15185


What Would Bulgakov Have Thought?This film in effect throws Bulgakov’s novel into a

food processor along with bits and pieces of a cou-ple of other works by the same author, and produc-es— voilà! — something new! It’s not exactly a purée, but has more of a lumpy consistency, with chunks of the original remaining. Co-screenwriter and science fiction author Sergei Dyachenko, who is Ukrainian, boasted in an interview with segodnya.ua published nearly two years before the film aired, “We didn’t make up a thing, but used only what came from the pen of the writer himself.”

Well, that’s somewhat true, in the sense that they didn’t take many plot elements out of the food pro-cessor; but the author of White Guard must surely be turning over in his grave.

Whereas most reviews of the 2012 TV series were extremely negative (“total failure,” “deadly boring,” “a soap opera”), I liked parts of it, found it interest-ing enough to watch to the end, and thought some of the acting was good. I liked Kseniya Rappoport’s por-trayal of Elena Turbina, although many reviewers as-sociate the actress with her role as the gun moll of an Odessa gang leader in the blockbuster 2007 TV serial Liquidation (Ликвидация). But I do agree with the on-line commentator who wrote, “The film is better if you ‘forget about’ Bulgakov.”

The book was one of the few works by Bulgakov published in the USSR during his lifetime (he died in 1940), and only the first two thirds of it, at that (in 1925; the full work was published only in Paris in 1929). It was intended to be a trilogy, but the rest never materialized. Instead, the book morphed into a play, The Days of the Turbins (Дни Турбиных), which was enormously popular for decades, made the au-thor famous, and secured him at least a minimal livelihood.

The novella White Guard begins with a lyrical and foreboding prologue: “Great and terrible was the year of Our Lord 1918, hardly the second since the Revolution. Its summer abundant with warmth and sun, its winter with snow. Highest in its heaven stood two stars: the shepherds’ star, eventide Venus, and Mars, quivering red.” (I quote from what I believe to be the 1971 translation by Michael Glenny, although the copyright page is missing from my Kindle ver-sion.) It tells the story of the Turbins, a well-to-do Russian family in Kyiv during the Russian Civil War. The widowed mother of the close-knit family has just died. The oldest son, Aleksei Turbin, is a doctor just back from the World War I battlefront, Soviet Russia having withdrawn from the war. His siblings are Elena and Nikolai, the former married, the latter a cadet at

the military academy. Their closest friends are former tsarist officers now in the service of the Hetman, Pavlo Skoropadsky, a former Russian general who is now the German satrap in the Ukrainian part of what was still the Russian Empire.

Petliura’s army is closing in on Kyiv, and the Bolsheviks, though still far away, are moving down from the North. The Hetman is doing nothing to pre-pare to defend the city, and the mid-level White Guard officers are disgusted with both him and their own generals, “who sit drinking cognac in cafés,” as they did in the war against the Germans, while sending young soldiers to die. The very day that the Hetman finally musters all Russian officers, including Aleksei, Nikolka, and their friends, to defend the city against Petliura, the Germans tell him they’re pulling out. The Hetman and his commanding general abscond along with them in the dead of night, while the loyal offi-cers awake the next day to find that the world as they knew it has vanished. Their senior officer, Colonel Malyshev, disbands the regiment and sends everybody home, since he has neither the troops, nor the guns and ammunition, nor even the chain of command above him to defend the city. The Petliurians take Kyiv, committing numerous atrocities (notably the murder of Jews, an important motif in the book).

By the end of the book, the Bolsheviks are mov-ing in, the Petliurians are fleeing, and the epilogue is a reflection of the prologue, returning to the sublime celestial image, but now as a hint of immortality and infinite possibility: “...the curtain that God had drawn across the world was covered with stars,” says the nar-rator. The sword of war will pass away, but the stars will remain: “There is no man who does not know that. Why, then, will we not turn our eyes to the stars? Why?”

1926 Play: The Lizard Loses Its Tail“This tactic has long been familiar to playwrights: Under powerful pressure, the author deliberately mutilates his work. It is an extreme tactic! Thus a lizard, caught by its

tail, breaks off the tail and escapes. For every lizard real-izes that it is better to live without a tail than to lose its

life altogether.”

Mikhail Bulgakov, The Life of Monsieur de Molière, quoted by Ellendea Proffer, Bulgakov: Life and Work

(Ann Arbor: Ardis, 1984)

Since White Guard was published, at least one play and two films based on it have been produced. Each rendition is mutilated in its own way, is totally differ-ent from the book, and is heavily stamped with the po-litical and cultural imprint of its own time.

The play, Days of the Turbins, underwent exten-sive changes prior to performance, both for dramatic


reasons (Bulgakov’s first script was much too long) and to satisfy the censors. The result is a work that is much weaker than the book but nevertheless aston-ished and greatly moved its viewers in the USSR of 1926-1941.

The play begins with the family gathered ‘round the hearth, Nikolka playing the guitar and singing a song about how they’re going to smash Petliura. Aleksei is not the reflective and somewhat detached physician/philosopher of the book, but rather a colonel; his own role is merged with those of Colonel Malyshev and an-other important character in the book, Colonel Nai-Turs. It is Aleksei who dissolves the regiment after the Hetman’s betrayal. Many other characters are also eliminated; I’ll mention some of them later.

The on-stage role of the Petliurians is much di-minished. This was the subject of a big fight between the author and various authorities prior to the play’s opening night (October 5, 1926). His opponents didn’t want the Petliurians there at all. Bulgakov wrote an-grily to the directorate of the Moscow Art Theater (MKhAT) on June 4: “I have the honor to inform you that I do not agree to the cutting of the Petliurian scene from my play White Guard. Reasoning: The Petliurian scene is organically connected to the play” (cited by Proffer, 1984). He raised a number of oth-er objections, and said that if his conditions were not met, the play should “be taken off in short or-der.” When all the arguing was over, only part of the “Petliurian scene” remained — their cruel interro-gation of a deserter and a shoemaker; but without the third element, the brutality against a third man, a Jew. Thus was a crucial image in the book deleted at the stroke of a pen. The Petliurian Colonel Kozyr-Leshko was eliminated altogether.

As the play ends, one of the Turbins’ friends, Captain Studzinsky, is going off to join the doomed anti-Bolshevik forces of General Denikin on the Don, while another, Captain Myshlaevsky, will join the Red Army, because, he says, it fought valiantly and profes-sionally, and enlisting will allow him to stay in his be-loved Russia, rather than facing inevitable exile with the Whites. The Reds arrive and the orchestra plays “The Internationale”; Nikolka solemnly proclaims: “Ladies and gentlemen, this evening is a great pro-logue to a new historical drama.” Studzinsky morosely corrects him: “To some it is a prologue; but to some, an epilogue.” The curtain falls.

The writer Viktor Nekrasov, who, like Bulgakov, was from Kyiv, calculated that at least a million people saw the play (“Dom Turbinykh,” Novy Mir, 8, 1967). Translator Lilianna Lungina knew someone who saw it 32 times (Podstrochnik [Moscow: Corpus, 2010]).

Stalin reportedly saw it 15 times. (Why? That would be another article!)

Why were Bulgakov’s book and his “mutilated” play so wildly popular? Here are some contemporary comments:• The poet Maximilian Voloshin inscribed a gift to Bul-

gakov, “To the first man to engrave the soul of Russia’s strife” (Proffer, 1984).

• In early 1924, Bulgakov read the manuscript of the book to a circle of friends (as was the tradition in those days). The writer Yuri Slyozkin, who was present, wrote in Nakanune (March 9, 1924) that it was “the first at-tempt at creating a great epic tale of our lives” (Lydia Yanovskaya, Tvorcheskiу put’ Mikhaila Bulgakova [Moscow, 1983], http://www.belousenko.com).

• New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty, who attended a performance of the play, reported (Novem-ber 7, 1926) that a young Communist sitting behind him “sneered audibly during the earlier part of the play.” But by the time young Nikolka, badly wounded, relayed to Elena the news of Aleksei’s death, the Com-munist was weeping. Asked why, the man replied, “I can’t help it. It is too real. I saw things like that myself.” “There you have it,” wrote Duranty. “Scarcely a person in last night’s audience was not reliving similar scenes in his own memory” (Proffer, 1984).

1976 Film: A Patriotic MelodramaStill in the Soviet era but two generations later,

the play was remade in 1976 as a film, directed by Vladimir Basov. It has now been larded with a new prologue and finale, in case anybody had missed the point about how glad we all are that the work-ers’ and peasants’ Revolution had been victorious. It opens with lovely shots of old Kyiv, with a stirring martial song called The ‘Proletariat’ Armored Train (Бронепоезд “Пролетарий”), about the train that brings the Bolsheviks to the city. The narrator situates the story historically, describing the role of the vari-ous players, and concludes: “Everyone wanted to con-trol Ukraine, but only the Bolsheviks realized that it had to be defended.” He describes the Moscow decree creating a Ukrainian Front in the Red Army, and then, introducing suspense: “But in Kiev, no one knew that yet...” Then the story begins.

The “Petliurian scene” has now been eliminated altogether. Petliura’s army remains off-stage, men-tioned with fear and loathing by other characters but never seen, except when nationalist soldiers are shown marching down the street.

Colonel Aleksei Turbin is killed two thirds of the way through the film, having remained heroically at his post with a machine gun to cover the escape of his young soldiers from the arriving Petliurians, who then


kill him. The rest of the film is essentially a patriotic melodrama, although entertaining (if you like patriot-ic melodramas) and generally well performed. It ends as the train pulls into the station, while a stalwart Red Army soldier keeps watch in the bitter cold, and The ‘Proletariat’ Armored Train theme song strikes up again and proclaims that we’re fighting for the future, for Soviet power, and there can be no return to the past. What an irony this is when viewed in 2014, after the Soviet Union, like the Russian Empire before it, has passed from the scene.

By now, Bulgakov’s book is almost totally unrecognizable.

2012 Film: What Is White Guard Really About?

Reviewers of the 2012 film, who almost univer-sally compare it unfavorably to the 1976 production, seem to be reacting mostly from nostalgia. Notable is Andrei Vorontsov’s review in Literaturnaya Gazeta (March 7, 2012), where he writes that “White Guard is first and foremost a family novel, and only second-arily historical, philosophical, symbolic, and whatnot.” The proper interpretation, in his view, was captured in Basov’s film, but Snezhkin’s is a flop. “At the end of Snezhkin’s film, the Turbins’ home is empty,” he writes. “Sad? Yes, sad, but not very, because I didn’t feel the warmth of the Russian hearth there in the first place.” Kommersant’s Anna Narinskaya (March 3, 2012) laments the lack of “warm coziness” in the new film, saying that Bulgakov treasured this famil-ial coziness as the only thing that could withstand destruction.

So, is White Guard really about “family values”? Only if you argue that, say, The Brothers Karamazov, War and Peace, and The Cherry Orchard are too.

Insofar as it is about a fam-ily, the subject is the impact on a family — as the microcosm of an entire society — of cataclysmic change: world war, revolutionary upheaval, and civil war. It is also about the moral terrain on which choices must be made, for good or ill.

Snezhkin’s film begins in the clinic of Dr. Aleksei Turbin (yes, he’s a doctor again now), where he is examining the crotch of the young syphilitic radical poet Rusakov. In the book, Rusakov

is a very minor character who makes his appearance only toward the end. What in the world did Snezhkin have in mind by putting this scene first? I have no idea.

Otherwise, the main plot features and characters of the book have returned, although the order is at the mercy of the cinematic food processor. Very strange things begin to happen. The Petliurians’ vicious-ness is much accentuated, especially in the ampli-fied, sadistic personality of Colonel Kozyr-Leshko. The Bolsheviks are now played as equally hideous crea-tures. (Bulgakov’s own attitudes toward the Petliurian nationalists and the Bolsheviks are beyond the scope of this review. Suffice it to say that there were no posi-tive alternatives to either on the scene in 1919.)

Of course, this being a production of the 2010s and not the 1920s, blood and gore spill everywhere. After disbanding the White regiment, Colonel Malyshev blows his brains out, spattering them on the wall be-hind him. Kozyr-Leshko orders his men to slice and dice the heads from Jews, cadets, and orators whose mastery of the Ukrainian language he finds unsatis-factory, and generally anybody he doesn’t like. The discussion of the two “stars” —Venus and Mars — has returned in this film, but rather than poetically fram-ing the entire story, for some reason it is put into the mouth of the bestial Kozyr-Leshko, talking to an aide before leading the assault on the city. It is late at night, they are on a hill overlooking Kyiv, and the atmosphere is ominous. After his brief astronomi-cal dissertation, he orders, “Let’s go,” and the regi-ment moves into position for the morning’s battle. The discussion of the stars here is not only meaning-

less in context; it actually sabotages Bulgakov’s unifying metaphor of the entire book, arching from Venus and Mars (love and war) at the begin-ning to God’s heaven and man’s po-tential for immortality at the end. In the next scene, Kozyr-Leshko beats the living daylights out of the same aide. Later on, Dr. Turbin, forced by Kyiv’s new rulers to tend to a wound received by Kozyr-Leshko, shoots and kills the Petliurian colonel. (This twist of the plot is one of many that was dumped into the food proces-sor from another play, in this case I Have Killed [Я убил]).

The Bolsheviks are now promi-nently on-stage, in the person of the demonic Shpolyansky, who sabo-tages the precious few armored


vehicles of his erstwhile White Guard comrades-in-arms. A stone-cold killer, he executes all who oppose him and leaves town, returning with the Red Army. Shpolyansky had a brief but important existence in the novel but none at all in the play or the 1976 film. His mistress Julia, who rescues Aleksei when the lat-ter is badly wounded, and with whom Aleksei falls in love, had also been eliminated from previous pro-ductions, but has now returned, so of course there are the requisite 2012 bedroom scenes. The churl-ish Bolsheviks use the cross held aloft by the colossal statue of St. Vladimir (Volodymyr), which towers over Kyiv, for target practice.

This is all a grotesque distortion of the book; the film ends with Aleksei and Julia staring at one another in existential anguish, confronting a new world that is apparently devoid of meaning and even of love. A far cry from Bulgakov’s heavenly curtain of stars.

An Eternal Question: Russia’s IdentityLike the audiences in Bulgakov’s day, today’s

Russian adults have also lived through cataclysmic change. Twenty-three years ago the USSR was wiped off the map, and people woke up one morning to find that they now lived in Russia, Ukraine, or one of the other new states, instead of the Soviet Union of their birth, education, and cultural mindset. Elena Turbina

Talberg’s plaintive cry surely strikes a chord with post-1991 audiences: “Our whole life is falling apart. Everything is crashing down, collapsing.”

Where is the Bulgakov of the early 21st century, to “engrave the soul of Russia’s strife”? In Russian cine-ma today, stereotypes predominate: “men’s films” (ac-tion, machismo, endless replays of the Great Patriotic War), “women’s films” (relationships, soap operas), existentialism and depression, dystopic fantasy films, or that “safe ground” of Soviet times, Russian literary classics.

An insight from outside the film domain is helpful. Foreign policy analyst Fyodor Lukyanov wrote about “The Ukrainian Crisis as an Opportunity” at RBTH.com on March 31, 2014. His interesting analysis in-cludes this point: “Russia is undergoing a search for a new national identity to replace the Soviet one, which has exhausted itself. As in other countries that have passed through similar transformations, national feel-ings are growing more intense.”

After 23 years, that new national identity remains elusive. It is the job of the great artist to lead his or her people in this quest, as Mikhail Bulgakov did in his time. Until such artists emerge, we can expect more disappointing films, like Snezhkin’s White Guard.

Susan Welsh can be reached at [email protected]. She would like to receive feedback and welcomes guest columnists.

SLAVFILE LITE

Here is a photograph of two felt figures I bought at a bookstore. They can be used either as refrigera-tor magnets or finger puppets (or, I suppose as both alternately). Do you recognize Anton Pavlovich and Lev Nikolayevich? Evidently Fyodor Mikhailovich is also available but was out of stock at the bookstore! Who says the cultural level of this country is falling? Of course noth-ing is perfect, and the manufactur-ers, www.philosophersguild.com, have not yet evolved to the point of including Aleksandr Sergeyevich in their panoply. (Or do I mean pantheon?) But, as if the product’s double function were not enough, the figures also come with a bios-ketch and sample quote. For the ones now gracing my Kenmore, the quotes are: “You ask me: ‘What is life?’ That is like asking what is a carrot? A carrot is a carrot and that’s all there is to it” and “The one thing neces-sary, in life as in art, is to tell the truth.”

Finally, a new illustration of just how complex English article use is for those born into a language with-out articles. A few weeks ago squir-rels chewed through some of our outside electric power wires causing an outage in some but not all por-tions of our house. When I report-ed this to a Russonate friend (with excellent English by the way), I re-ceived the reply: “Your squirrels have a strange taste.” Knowing this to be a completely understandable error, I still could not resist writing back, “Well, then you had better stop eat-ing them.”

***This just in: I would not want anyone to think that

my hometown rag, The Washington Post, is not an equal opportunity idiom bungler. This morning’s edi-tion contained a reader letter complaining of a sports columnist’s use of the well-known English idiom, by a hare’s breath. (I certainly hope there was no garlic in the carrots.) Poka, Lydia

Continued from page 13


http://www.philosophersguild.com


Slavic Poetry In Translation Primož ČučnikTranslation and Introduction

by Martha Kosir

Primož Čučnik (1971) is a Slovenian poet, essayist, translator, and editor. He was born and raised in Ljubljana, where he also graduated from

the University of Ljubljana with a degree in philoso-phy and sociology of culture.

Čučnik’s poems have been featured in a number of literary magazines in Slovenia and abroad, and he is considered one of the leading voices of con-temporary Slovenian poetry. His Two Winters (Dve zimi), published in 1999, won the award for the best first poetry collection. It was followed by Rhythm in Hands (Ritem v rôkah) in 2002, Ode on Manhattan Avenue (Oda na manhatanski aveniji) in 2003 (co-authored with Gregor Podlogar and Žiga Kariž), Chords (Akordi) in 2004, New Windows (Nova okna) in 2005, and a collection of selected poems Ax in Honey (Sekira v medu) in 2006. His collection Work and Home (Delo in dom) was published in 2007 and won the Prešeren Fund Award in 2008. The collec-tion As a Gift (Kot dar), published in 2010, won the Jenko Award. His latest collection of poems Mikado was published in 2012. Čučnik is also the author of a book of essays, literary criticism and fragments titled Sleeping on the Wing (Spati na krilu), which was pub-lished by Novi pristopi (New Approaches) in 2008.

As a translator, Čučnik has rendered works from Polish and English into Slovenian by authors such as C. Miłosz, Miron Białoszewski, Piotr Sommer, Marcin Świetlicki, Adam Wiedemann, Eugenyusz Tkaczyszyn Dycki, John Ashbery, Frank O’Hara, and Elizabeth Bishop. He also works as an editor for the magazine Literature (Literatura), and is a founder and editor for a small independent publishing house Šerpa.

In 2003 he collaborated with a group of poets and musicians from Ljubljana on the production of a CD titled A Bit of Noise and a Pinch of Salt (Košček hru-pa in ščepec soli), which featured recordings of mu-sic and poetry. Čučnik is also a member of the Čučnik Pepelnik Grom group which experiments and per-forms with diverse forms of sound combined with lit-erary readings. The performances blend music with literature in new and innovative ways.

The poems for this selection come from his collec-tions New Windows, Work and Home and As a Gift, which will be published as a trilogy in 2015. Čučnik is a poet of profound consciousness of the world and the self, which is expressed through an exploratory inter-play between the visual and the sensory. The poems examine the relativity of beauty and truth, of harmo-ny and discord, of sound and of silence, of life and of death. All these elements ultimately define the com-plexity of human existence, which is marked by par-adoxes, struggles, and contradictions, but also mo-ments of wonder and intricacy.

Naše viže

So bile naš dom. Znali smo si jih požvižgati,ko smo postopali po kuhinjiali obsedeli po nedeljskem kosilu.Govoreče o tem, kaj imamo radi,

smo jih imeli radi, poskočnih in otožnihpogledov na svet, ki je izpuhteval, dokler ga nismočisto pozabili. In smo. Ostali brez posluhaza domače ognjišče, v prsih nam niso več zaigrale

kot čisti računi. A še bolj kot zasenas je skrbelo za robo, ki smo jo prinesli na trg,radič in drugo solato,zima je grizla, čeprav ni bila sibirska.

Ampak mi smo se imeli radi, prav zares.Naše veselice in pogrebi niso bili poceni.In nekega dne, ko smo pod dolgem času spetodšli v planine, so prišle za nami.

Tako za hip, smo jih še vedno imeli,nekje na koncu jezika, da za nas zapojejo,česar sami več ne moremo. Vsaj ne brez truda.Še na smrt smo si požvižgali, samo da ne bi onemeli.

Our tunes

were our home. We could whistle themas we hung around the kitchenor sat at the table after Sunday dinner.We would talk about what we liked,

we liked those tunes, their lively or melancholyvisions of the world, the world which faded away untilwe forgot about it completely. We became tone-deaf about our hearth and home, and the songs stopped playing

purely in our hearts. But more than about ourselveswe worried about the goods that we brought to the market, the chicory and the lettuce,the winter was fierce, although it was not Siberian.

But we loved each other, we truly did.Our parties and our funerals weren’t cheap.And one day, after a long time, when we wenthiking to the mountains again, our tunes tagged along.

This way, for a moment, we still had themsomewhere on the tip of our tongues to sing for uswhat we ourselves could not. At least not without an effort.And we whistled even at death to avoid becoming silent.


Množina

za E.T. Dyckega

1

KAR je glasno, bo utišano tistega, kar je pripravljeno poslušatinamreč ne moreš izpodbijatis tem, da prisiliš glas

spregovoriti kot zaslišanegaglas bo spregovorilslišan bo z glasovi zračnih ustzračna usta so pripravljena

govoriti o tem, kaj narekujejoresnice, ki se ne dajo slišatiali nadzirati, resnice se ne dajomeriti po lakoti, ki jo nahrani molk

2

NE zaradi praznih informacijki jih poslušaš in nočeš slišatiampak zaradi lepoteki se poslavlja in odhaja

da se ji spet lahko približašedinole v obliki molkaki ne more ničesar utišatida bi te lahko utišal

in poslušaš ga samo zatoker ga ne moreš slišatina koncu vsake edninešokantni odmevi / odmevi tišine

3

VELIKA mesta imajo svoje resnicemnožice in množice tatovin krivde, ki prosjačijoda bi uredila svoj promet

velika mesta imajo svoje beračezaradi krivde si jih nalagajona svoja pleča, brez krivdejih nalagajo v tišino stranskih cest

velika mesta imajo izpušne plinemnožice in množice resnicposlušaš jih zato, ker jihne moreš slišati tako kot drugi

Plural

For E.T. Dycki

1

WHAT is loud will be silencedwhat is willing to be heardcan not be underminedby making the voice

speak as if heardthe voice will speakit will be heard through the voicesof airy mouths that are willing

to speak what the truths dictatethe truths that do not let themselves be heard or controlled, the truths cannot be measuredby hunger nourished through silence.

2

NOT because of empty pieces of informationthat you hear and do not want to hearbut because of beautythat is bidding farewell and leaving

beauty that you can approachonly in the form of silencethat cannot silence anythingin order to silence you

and you listen to it onlybecause you cannot hear itat the end of every singular formshocking echoes / the echoes of silence

3

BIG cities have their own truthsthey are filled with guilt and with multitudes of thieves begging to have the city traffic regulated

big cities have their beggarswhom they carry on their shoulders because of feelings of guilt, but without guilt they deposit them into the silence of side streets

big cities have exhaust fumesand multitudes of truthsyou listen to them only becauseyou can not hear them as others do


Variacija na aporije, poti in glasove

več kot eden, nujno je,da jih govori več kot eden

JACQUES DERRIDA

več kot eden, nujno je, da jih govori več kot edenponavljam, za to je potrebnih več glasovves dan dežuje, sonce se šele prebija na fasadiko ona pravi: vam je dobro, ker lahko skačete, fantje

ponavljam, za to je potrebnih več glasovkot da bi šlo za generalko, pred prazno dvoranoko ona pravi: vam je dobro, ker lahko skačete, fantjedlje od tistega, kar je razumno dovoljeno

kot da bi šlo za generalko, pred prazno dvoranobog poskrbi za nujno zdravniško oskrbodlje od tistega, kar je razumno dovoljenone razumite me narobe, še vedno je skrivnosten

bog poskrbi za nujno zdravniško oskrboko je zdravnik šele na pol poti, zavit v snežni metežne razumite me narobe, še vedno je skrivnostensamo ne bodi tak kot drugi in povsod boš v puščavi

ko je zdravnik šele na pol poti, zavit v snežni metežali ko stopi skozi vrata, jo zagleda že ozdravljenosamo ne bodi tak kot drugi in povsod boš v puščavito moraš zapisati, čeprav je neustrezno

ali ko stopi skozi vrata, jo zagleda že ozdravljenonekaj se zgodi na poti, vso pot je nekdo molilto moraš zapisati, čeprav je neustreznonajbrž si ti pustila nezaprta vrata

nekaj se zgodi na poti, vso pot je nekdo moliltudi ko se vrnemo, je na stežaj odprtonajbrž si ti pustila nezaprta vratasamota je potrebna, ne vem, čemu bi to tajili

tudi ko se vrnemo, je na stežaj odprtotoplota je bučala skozi strešno oknosamota je potrebna, ne vem, čemu bi to tajiličeprav se tega ne omenja in ne hvali

toplota je bučala skozi strešno oknonenehno te zapušča, ne da bi odšla od tebečeprav se tega ne omenja in ne hvalizares ni smrti brez življenja in narobe

nenehno te zapušča, ne da bi odšla od tebeveč kot eden, nujno je, da jih govori več kot edenzares ni smrti brez življenja in narobeves dan dežuje, sonce se šele prebija na fasadi

A Variation on Aporias, Paths, and Voices

more than one, it is imperativethat more than one speaks…

JACQUES DERRIDA

more than one, it is imperative that more than one speaksI repeat, what is needed are additional voicesit rains all day long, the sun barely breaks through onto the façadewhen she says: you have it good, boys, because you can jump

I repeat, what is needed here are additional voicesas in a dress rehearsal in front of an empty performance hallwhen she says: you have it good, boys, because you can jump farther than what is reasonably allowed

as in a dress rehearsal, in front of an empty performance hallGod provides for emergency medical carefarther from what is reasonably alloweddon’t get me wrong, he is still mysterious

God provides for emergency medical carewhen the doctor is only halfway there enveloped in a blizzarddon’t get me wrong, he is still mysteriousjust do not be like the others and you’ll find yourself in the desert everywhere

when the doctor is only halfway there enveloped in a blizzardand when he steps through the door, he sees her cured alreadyjust do not be like the others and you’ll find yourself in the desert everywherealthough this is unsuitable you have to write it down

and when he steps through the door he sees her cured alreadysomething happened on the way over, somebody prayed the whole way although this is unsuitable you have to write it down you probably left the door open

something happened on the way over, somebody prayed the whole wayalso when we come back, the door is wide openyou probably left it opensolitude is necessary, I do not know why we should deny that

also when we come back, the door is wide openthe warmth is howling though the skylightsolitude is necessary, I do not know why we should deny thatalthough this is not mentioned and not praised

the warmth is howling though the skylightit keeps leaving you, without ever truly being gonealthough this is not mentioned and not praisedthere truly is no death without life and vice versa

it keeps leaving you without ever truly being gonemore than one, it is imperative that more than one speaksthere truly is no death without life and vice versait rains all day long, the sun barely breaks through onto the façade


Za tvoje ime

Pridi sem. Usedi se zraven. Rad bi te nekaj vprašal. Zdaj, ko imam nova okna,se vidi več in bolj razločno. Sosedje žegojijo sadike in pokrivajo seme, tu, med hišami,

včasih gledam vrt. Zdaj se je naredil tako svetel. Srečni vrtičkarji! Jaz pa slišim avte,kako drsijo po cestah, na pumpah dišipo bencinu, kam naj te peljem?

Moji predniki so bili skrivnostni kmetje.Na deželi je lepo, je pela pesmica. Še lepše se je voziti po mestu, z ušesikot slušalkami hoditi po pločniku.

Moje dvorišče, gozd, kako si se spremenil!Zdaj vrtim kasete in kovance.Kaj naj dam, katero muziko?Kdaj pa kdaj se je res lepo kam odpeljati

in se nadihati zraka. O, glej, presvetlilo je polivinilasta platna. Po navadi in vedno z mešanimi občutki imamo radi hrup in te načete stavbe.Tudi vrt se je že razcvetel.

Kaj bova jedla za kosilo?Počakaj, vem. Res kmalu – nekaj rož.

In Your Name

Come here. Sit by me. I would like toask you something. Now that I have new windows,I can see everything better and clearer. The neighborsare growing new plants and burying the seeds, here,among the houses,

I sometimes gaze at the garden. It’s becoming sodazzling. Delighted hobby gardeners! And I hear the cars slide down the streets, and the gas pumpssmell of gasoline, where should I take you?

My ancestors were mysterious farmers.The countryside is beautiful, a song proclaimed.But it is even more beautiful to drive around the city, and walk down the sidewalk with ears like headphones.

My courtyard, the woods, how much you’ve changed!Now I play cassettes and spin coins.What should I play, what music?Once and a while it is really beautiful to go for a ride

and get some fresh air. Oh, look, the plastic canvasesare shining brightly. Usually yet always with mixed feelings we love the noise and the weathered buildings.Also the garden is in full bloom already.

What shall we eat for lunch?Wait, I know. Some flowers — very soon.

Speaking of poetry: Tom West has sent us the following Russian translation of Robert Frost’s famous “Fire and Ice.” What do you think of it?

Fire and IceRobert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice.

Огонь и ледПеревод М. Зенкевича

Кто говорит, мир от огняПогибнет, кто от льда.А что касается меня,Я за огонь стою всегда.Но если дважды гибель ждетНаш мир земной,— ну что ж,Тогда для разрушенья ледХорош,И тоже подойдет.


CATEGORY 2: SIMILAR DEFINITIONS, DIFFERENT USAGE

Russian word English word Example of Russian term Proposed solutions авантюра рискованное и сомнительное дело, предпринятое в расчете на случайный успех авантюрист беспринципный человек, занимающийся авантюрами авантюризм склонность к авантюре

adventure a daring, hazardous undertaking adventurer a person of uncertain qualifications seeking to attain unmerited wealth or position by sharp practice and dubious methods, esp. by playing on the credulity or prejudices of others; one that lives by his wits (Webster’s Third Intl.) adventurist>adventurism [1935-45; adventure + ism, as trans. of Russ. avantyurizm] 1. Defiance or disregard of accepted standards of behavior. 2. Rash or irresponsible policies, methods or actions, esp. in political or international affairs (Random House Dict., 2d ed.).

«Признание авантюриста Феликса Круля» Для первого типа будет характерно стремление к экономическому выигрышу, использование случая, ситуации, с тем, чтобы быстренько сколотить капитал. Так обычно поступают авантюристы... Почему мелкий жулик и авантюрист, обманывающий честных и не очень честных граждан Остап Бендер, вызывает у нас симпатию?

авантюра con; scam; swindle; flimflam авантюрист con man (artist); scammer; swindler; shady operator

авиация воздушные средства передвижения, воздушный флот

aviation aircraft, especially military aircraft, collectively

Авиация и флот США продолжают наносить воздушные удары по территории Афганистана

aircraft; air force

автомобиль транспортное средство на колёсном ходу с собственным двигателем для перевозок по безрельсовым путям

automobile а passenger vehicle designed for operation on ordinary roads and typically having four wheels and a gasoline or diesel internal-combustion engine

В Грозном отменен запрет на въезд и выезд из города гражданских автомобилей. В октябре текущего года с конвейеров ОАО «Горьковский автомобильный завод» сошли 17 813 автомобилей: 4 851 легковых и 12 962 грузовых, из них 3028 микроавтобусов.

motor vehicles (generic); autos; cars; trucks (depending on context)

активизировать побудить к активности, усиливая деятельность, оживить

activate to make active; cause to function or act

Украина и Армения подписали 4 соглашения, в частности об активизации сотрудничества в энергетической сфере. Заявление Алексея Кудрина совпало с заметной активизацией в Чечне бандформирований.

increase (in something) increase in activity; increased activity

THE RETURN OF FALSE COGNATES And Other Fine Points of Russian>English Translation: Part III

Material from Steve Shabad’s San Antonio ATA Presentation

We continue to publish material provided by Steve Shabad to accompany his 2013 ATA Presentation, The Return of False Cognates. This is the longest of Steve’s lists and thus should be the one that proves most useful to translators. It is devoted to words that have similar definitions in Russian and English but different usages. Steve notes that his table contains only dictionary definitions that are relevant to the English-Russian comparison. He appends a further warning that in some cases many of the English cognates he lists do fit the Russian context, but in most cases their use would be awkward, imprecise or downright wrong. The next (Fall) issue of SlavFile will contain the final group of cognates, those with the same definition but different usage – even more subtle but less numerous.


Russian word English word Example of Russian term Proposed solutions акция (nonfinancial definition) осуществляемое по заранее разработанному плану масштабное действие

action organized activity to accomplish an objective

При проведении крупной рекламной акции для достижения наибольшего эффекта важным этапом является её анонсирование. Военная акция в мирное время может проводиться как в границах государства, так и за их пределами против крупных преступных группировок. Мэр Киева считает отключение газоснабжения столицы политической акцией, направленной на дестабилизацию ситуации в городе.

event; activity operation BUT action; act

аморальный противоречащий морали, безнравственный

amoral 1. Not involving questions of right or wrong; without moral quality; neither moral nor immoral. 2. Having no moral standards, restraints or principles; unaware of or indifferent to questions of right or wrong.

Учитель называет три причины отказа работать: во-первых, он требует погашения трехмесячного долга по зарплате, во-вторых, считает «аморальным подчиняться тем законам, которые диктуют обществу власть имущие». Считаете ли вы, что клонирование в любых его формах аморально?

immoral

база основание, основа чего- н.; учреждение, предприятие, центральный пункт по снабжению или обслуживанию кого-чего-нибудь; склад, место хранения товаров, материалов, продуктов

base foundation; the fundamental or main part, as of a plan, organization, system, theory, etc.; a center of operations or source of supply

12 миллионов потрачено на строи-

тельство, а 2 миллиона на создание в поселке производственной базы по лесообработке. Все о минерально-сырьевой базе России… Нормативно-правовая база частично уже подготовлена: принят Федеральный закон... Пройдут проверку боевой стрельбой реактивные системы залпового огня «Белград», созданные на базе БМ-21 «Град». Он отметил важность принятия нового Налогового кодекса, который расширит налоговую базу и сократит налоговые привилегии. На основании представленных документов и налоговой декларации налоговая база гражданина за 2011 г. уменьшается на социальный налоговый вычет...

facility(ies); depot; warehouse resources; reserves framework modeled on; based on; by making use of tax base (for economic sector or economy as a whole) BUT taxable income (for individuals or companies)

банда разбойная, преступная группа, шайка бандит участник банды, вооруженный грабитель

band a group of people joined together for a common purpose bandit anyone who steals, cheats, exploits, etc.

На минувшей неделе в Паневежисе началась междоусобица двух преступных банд. В Чечне в результате специальной операции сотрудники Северокавказкого РУБОП задержали лидеров трех бандформирований.

gang бандит often, gangster


Russian word English word Example of Russian term Proposed solutions блок 1. Соглашение, объединение государств, партий, организаций, группировок для тех или иных совместных действий. 2. Деталь, обычно сложная, используемая как готовая часть сооружения, механизма, изделия. 3. Часть сооружения, механизма, изделия, представляющая собой группу отдельных функционально объединенных элементов, частей. 4. Совокупность, группа, целостность.

bloc 1. A group of persons, businesses, etc., united for a particular purpose. 2. A group of nations that share common interests and usually act in concert in international affairs. block A quantity, portion or section taken as a unit or dealt with at one time.

политический блок дверной блок блок электропитания Поездка Владимира Путина в Сочи Россия и США понизят свой ядерный потенциал до 1 700–2 200 боевых блоков. блок проблем, вопросов, предложений

bloc unit, assembly unit warhead set, group, array

версия разновидность, вариант в изложении, толковании чего-н.; одно из предположений относительно характера и связей фактов, установленных следствием

version an account showing one point of view; particular description or report given by one person or group

Основной версией катастрофы самолета Ту-154 под Иркутском является «человеческий фактор».

theory; scenario

в принципе в основном, в общем, в целом

in principle in essence or in substance; fundamentally

В принципе, почему встал вопрос о замене премьер-министра, никто в Киеве толком объяснить не может. Просто отпустить цены на газ и электроэнергию нельзя, потому что это слишком сильно ударит по потребителям газа, спровоцирует рост инфляции. Но это повышение, в принципе, можно компенсировать снижением цен на нефтепродукты.

by and large; on the whole; in theory; basically; theoretically

грандиозный oгромный, величественный

grandiose 1. Affectedly grand or important; pompous. 2. More complicated or elaborate than necessary; overblown. З. Grand in an imposing or impressive way.

Прозвучит поэма-оратория «Двенадцать» (1957 г.) - по одноименной поэме А. Блока — грандиозное полотно о событиях революционного прошлого. Чем сложнее и грандиознее план, тем больше шансов, что он провалится.

enormous, huge, tremendous ambitious

динамика ход развития, изменения какого-то явления

dynamics the way the various forces operating in any field shift or change in relation to one another

Если проследить динамику основных антисоветских проявлений в деревне каждого в отдельности, то и здесь обнаруживаем серьезные передвижки.

trend(line); change(s)

киллер профессиональный убийца. (НСРЗ)

killer а person or thing that kills Убийство таганрогского мэра Сергея Шило следствие связывает с его профессиональной деятельностью. Как сообщили ИА REGNUM в пресс-службе ГУВД РО, накануне вечером возле дома, где жил мэр Таганрога, неизвестный киллер произвел 6 выстрелов.

contract killer; hit man


Russian word English word Example of Russian term Proposed solutions коллега товарищ по учению или работе

colleague аn associate Министр иностранных дел Германии Йошка Фишер и его американский коллега Колин Пауэлл провели встречу в Вашингтоне. Российские журналисты встретились с группой американских коллег в Москве.

counterpart, opposite number

комбинация сложный замысел, система приемов для достижения чего-н.

combination 1. A number of things combined. 2. Something formed by combining

Не так давно УНКМО имел большие проблемы в связи с проверкой его деятельности Счетной палатой, в результате которой всплыло немало хитроумных комбинаций с государ-ственными деньгами. И если кампанию по выборам в Госдуму администрация президента провела с откровенной грубостью, то комбинацию «преемственность власти» можно считать шедевром политического искусства. Однако большинство политиков не отнеслись к планам Владимира Путина буквально, считая их частью более сложной комбинации.

manipulations tactical sequence; sequence (or series) of moves; stratagem; maneuver; gambit

комплекс совокупность, сочетание чего-нибудь представляющий собою комплекс чего-либо; охватывающий целую групппу предметов, объектов, явлений, процессов и т.п. комплексный

complex (n.) a group of interrelated ideas, activities, etc., that form a single whole; an assemblage of units, as buildings or roadways, that together form a single, comprehensive group complex (adj.) consisting of interconnected or interwoven parts.

комплекс радиоэлектронной борьбы комплексный интернет-маркетинг комплексный центр социального обслуживания населения комплексный подход к похудению

system; unit; set; array integrated; comprehensive; all-around; holistic

консультировать 1. с кем. То же, что консультироваться. 2. кого (что) и без доп. Давать консультацию.

consult to seek advice or information from

консультировать(ся) с юристом В те годы мне приходилось консультировать афганских оперработников ХАФ при подготовке покушения на Ахмад Шаха Масуда.

consult (with) advise

кредит ссуда, предоставление ценностей в долг

credit 1. Time allowed for payment for goods or services obtained on trust. 2. A sum of money due to a person; anything valuable standing on the credit side of an account. З. Any deposit or sum of money against which a person may draw.

предоставить кредит ипотечное кредитование кредитование реального сектора кредитная организация

bank loan (заем — [nonbank] loan) mortgage lending to the real sector lending institution

курс 1. Направление какой-н. политической, общественной деятель-ности. 2. Цена, по к-рой продаются ценные бумаги. 3. Законченный цикл, весь объем специального обу-чения, каких-н. процедур. 4. Отдельная годичная ступень образования в высшей школе и в специальных заведениях.

course 1. A direction or route taken or to be taken. 2. A particular manner of proceeding. З. A program of instruction, as at a college or university. 4. A systematized or prescribed series.

Новый Министр иностранных дел Украины Анатолий Зленко заявляет, что внешнеполитический курс страны остается неизменным. Приоритет России — Евросоюз, «курс на интеграцию с Европой становится одним из ключевых», — объявил Путин. Курс рубля падает. курс истории России курс грязелечения студент третьего курса

policy exchange rate course year


Russian word English word Example of Russian term Proposed solutions момент обстоятельство, отдельная сторона какого-н. явления.

moment 1. Philos. a) an aspect of a thing. b) Obs. an essential or constituent factor.

положительные моменты в работе Документ содержит несколько важных моментов.

features; aspects; components points; items

облигация ценная бумага, по которой ее владельцу выплачивается ежегодный доход в форме процентов или выигрышей

obligation 1. Any bond, note, bill, certificate, or the like, as of a government or a corporation, serving as evidence of indebtedness. 2. An indebtedness or amount of indebtedness.

облигация государственного займа bond

операция (financial) отдельное действие в ряду подобных

operation 1. Course or procedure of productive or industrial activity. 2. A particular process or course. З. A business transaction, esp. one of a speculative nature; deal. A shady operation.

банковская операция transaction

орган 1. Орудие, средство. 2. Государственное или общественное учреждение, организация. 3. Учреждения министерства внутренних дел, государственной безопасности (разг.).

organ 1. A newspaper, magazine, or other means of communicating thoughts, opinions, etc., esp. in behalf of some organization, political group, or the like. 2. An instrument or means, as of action or performance: This committee will be the chief organ of administration.

«Правда» — орган ЦК КПСС. Местные органы власти. Судебные органы. Он работает в органах.

organ bodies; agencies; authorities (органы by itself; colloq.) security agencies

организм 1. Совокупность физических и духовных свойств человека. 2. Сложно организованное единство, целостность.

organism 1. A form of life composed of mutually interdependent parts that maintain various vital processes. 2. Any life form considered as an entity. З. Any organized body or system conceived of as analogous to a living being: the governmental organism. 4. Any complex thing or system having properties and functions determined not only by the properties and relations of its individual parts, but by the character of the whole that they compose and by the relations of the parts to the whole.

Человек — органический элемент природы. С учетом специфики его организма он так же экологически зависим от состояния воды, атмосферного воздуха, как зависимы от них олень или полевой цветок. «Влияние алкоголя, наркотиков, токсических средств на организм подростка». Политическая элита — вот тот мозг, который управляет всем государственным организмом. Конечно, трудно искоренить коррупцию в одной отдельно взятой части государственного организма, когда он весь ею поражен.

organic makeup; body; system; physiology state (system); government(al system)

ордер письменное предписание, распоряжение или документ на выдачу, получение, осуществление чего-н.

order a command, direction or instructions, usually backed by authority

Россия предлагает упростить процедуру экстрадиции и ввести единый ордер на арест террористов.

warrant; authorization; voucher


Russian word English word Example of Russian term Proposed solutions парк 1. Место стоянки и ремонта подвижного состава. 2. Совокупность транспортных средств, подвижной состав, а также вообще совокупность машин, механизмов, аппаратов.

park а space where vehicles, esp. automobiles, may be assembled or stationed

Реконструкция депо завершилась в 1957 г., и с 11 ноября этого года оно из трамвайно-троллейбусного было преобразовано в 4-й троллейбусный парк им. Щепетильникова. По областям и регионам Украины парк тракторов и зерноуборочных комбайнов распределяется следующим образом… Большой парк станков и оборудования позволяет цеху по производству столярных изделий и переработке древесины выпускать широкую гамму столярных изделий.

depot; yard; facility fleet; stock; force stock

периферия местность, удаленная от центра

periphery surrounding space or area; outer parts; environs or outskirts

приехать с периферии outlying regions; the provinces

пропаганда распространение в обществе и разъяснение каких-нибудь воззрений, идей, знаний

propaganda any systematic, widespread dissemination or promotion of particular ideas, doctrines, practices, etc., to further one’s cause or to damage an opposing one; ideas, doctrines or allegations so spread; now often used disparagingly to connote deception or distortion

Монгольский парламент заявил протест в связи с незаконным использованием его названия в пропаганде табака и курения. пропаганда здорового образа жизни

publicity; promotion campaigning (for); dissemination (of information); propagation

протекция покровительство в устройстве куда-н., в продвижении по службе

protection 1. The act of protecting. 2. Patronage.

Николай Левицкий имел в виду Софию Витт, гречанку по происхождению, муж которой по протекции Потемкина стал комендантом Херсона.

patronage

профессия основной род занятий, трудовой деятельности

profession 1. A vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science. 2. Any vocation or business.

Служба занятости пытается стабилизировать ситуацию и повысить конкурентоспособность женщин на рынке труда. С этой целью проводится обучение по профессиям, предложенным образовательными учреждениями города и которые могут быть востребованными работодателями. В Калачеевском колледже механизации сельского хозяйства прошла мини-конференция на тему «Подготовка специалистов рабочих массовых профессий».

trade; vocation occupation

профилактика совокуп-ность предупредительных мероприятий, направлен-ных на сохранение и укрепление нормального состояния, порядка

prophylaxis 1. The preventing of disease. 2. Prophylactic treatment, as the cleaning of the teeth by a dental hygienist.

Месячник по профилактике социально-обусловленных заболеваний среди учащейся моло-дежи прошел в Железнодорожном районе Хабаровска. профилактика преступлений

prevention


Russian word English word Example of Russian term Proposed solutions пункт 1. Место, предназна-ченное для чего-н., отличающееся чем-н. 2. Учреждение или отдел учреждения с узко определенным кругом функций. 3. Отдельное положение, раздел в составе изложе-ния, документа.

point 1. A place of which the position alone is considered; spot. 2. A single or separate article or item, as in an extended whole; a detail or particular.

населенный пункт медицинский пункт приемный пункт корреспондентский пункт договор из пяти пунктов

community; population center (referring to large н.п. only) (Мed.) infirmary; (generic) center; office; facility; bureau clause; paragraph; item

реализовать 1. Осуществить; 2. Продать.

realize to make real; bring into being; achieve; to convert (assets, rights, etc.) into money

1. a) Фонд содействия реализации благотворительных программ. b) Приоритетная тема фестиваля— обмен опытом в области создания и реализации Интернет-проектов 2. Реализация российских нефтепродуктов

1. carry out; perform; implement, conduct, etc. OR skip word (see ex. 1 at left) 2. sell

реальный 1. Действительно существующий, не воображаемый. 2. Осуществимый, отвечающий действительности. 3. Практический, исходящий из понимания и учета подлинных условий действительности.

real 1. True; not merely ostensible, nominal or apparent. 2. Existing or occurring as fact; actual rather than imaginary.

реальная заработная плата реальный план реальная политика Это нереально.

real (wages) realistic (feasible, workable) plan realistic policy That’s unrealistic

режим 1. Распорядок дня, действий. 2. Условия деятельности, работы, существования чего-н.

regime a ruling or prevailing system.

режим работы В проекте закона остались лишь два ограничения — возможность уста-новления режима счета и введение обязательного депонирования 100% суммы капитальной операции сроком до 2 месяцев. Затем он передал слово директору ФСБ Николаю Патрушеву, и совеща-ние продолжилось в закрытом режиме. трудовая колония строгого режима

mode; regulation; order; routine; regimen system; procedure ...in secret (don’t translate режим) Strict-regime labor colony

резонанс отзвук, отголосок, впечатление, произведенное на многих

resonance 1. The state or quality of being resonant [resounding or echoing, as sounds]. 2. The prolongation of sound by reflection; reverberation.

Статья имела большой резонанс, в ней были ссылки на номер уголов-ного дела, и выглядела она вполне правдоподобно. Еще раз подчеркну, что в другое время эта акция вызвала бы большой общественный резонанс и протест тех политических сил (и поддержи-вающих их избирателей), которые отсекаются, таким образом, от реального участия в политической жизни страны.

reverberations; reaction; response; impact


Russian word English word Example of Russian term Proposed solutions скандал 1. Случай, происшествие, позорящее его участников. 2. Происшествие, громкая ссора, нарушающие порядок.

scandal any act, person or thing that offends or shocks moral feelings of the community and leads to disgrace

Очередной скандал, связанный с переделом собственности. Как сообщает сайт НТВ-РУ... примерно сорок человек захватили сегодня здание московского мыловаренного завода. Бюджетный процесс может прийти «к грандиозному политическому скандалу».

uproar; furor; outcry; устроить скандал (esp. in public) — make a scene

специальный особый, исключительно для чего-нибудь предназначенный; относящийся к отдельной отрасли чего-нибудь, присущий той или иной специальности

special of or for a particular person, occasion, purpose, etc.; not general or regular; specific or limited

специальное образование специальный термин К сожалению, отметил генерал, в МВД до сих пор нет специальной структуры, которая отвечала бы за борьбу с терроризмом.

specialized; specific dedicated

спортсмен человек, занимающийся спортом и владеющий его высокими достижениями

sportsman а man who engages in sports, esp. in some open-air sport, as hunting, fishing, racing, etc.

На Олимпийские игры приехали тысячи спортсменов.

athlete

станция название нек-рых учреждений, предприятий, пунктов или групп научно-исследовательских учреждений специального назначения

station 1. The district or municipal headquarters of certain public services. 2. A place equipped for some particular work, service, research or the like.

электростанция plant; center; facility

схема 1. Чертеж, изображающий устройство, взаимоотношение частей чего- нибудь. 2. Изложение, описание, изображение чего-нибудь в главных чертах.

scheme 1. A plan, design or program of action to be followed; project. 2. A body or system of related doctrines, theories, etc. З. Any system of correlated things, parts, etc., or the manner of its arrangement. 4. A plan, program or policy officially adopted and followed. 5. a diagram, map or the like schema 1. A diagram, plan or scheme. 2. An underlying organizational pattern or structure; conceptual framework.

В авиакомпании говорят, что не собираются избавляться от старых ИЛов и будут рассматривать новые схемы по использованию этих самолетов. Схема действий при получении «роковых» конвертов остается прежней. Вклады от 2 до 20 тыс. рублей будут возмещаться по схеме: 2 тыс. рублей плюс 90% от суммы вклада.

plan; system; outline; procedure; program; arrangement; formula; diagram; circuit; set-up; schema (in certain academic writings)

тенденция направление развитие, склонность; стремление

tendency an inclination to move or act in a particular direction or way; constant disposition to some action or state

Тенденции развития рекламы в России будут рассматриваться на рекламном форуме 17–19 октября. В республике установилась устойчи-вая тенденция к экономическому росту промышленных и производст-венных показателей.

trend; pattern

факультет подразделение вуза, осуществляющее подготовку студентов и аспирантов по определен-

ной специальности, а также руководство научно- исследовательской деятельностью объединяе-

мых им кафедр

faculty 1. The entire teaching and administrative force of a university, college or school. 2. One of the departments or learning, as theology. medicine or law, in a university. З. The teaching body, sometimes with the students, in any of these departments.

биологический факультет — biology department юридический факультет — law school

department; division (esp. to distinguish from smaller кафедра — department — if latter occurs in same translation) school; division


Russian word English word Example of Russian term Proposed solutions фонд 1. Денежные средства, ассигнуемые для определенной цели. 2. Ресурсы, запасы чего-н. 3. Общественная организация, к-рая ведает средствами, поступающими к ней для каких- н. социально значимых целей.

fund 1. A supply of money or pecuniary resources, as for some purpose. 2. Supply; stock. З. An organization created to administer or manage a fund, as of money invested or contributed for some special purpose.

фонд заработной платы земельный фонд страны жилищный фонд города Фонд культуры России. Горбачевский фонд Фонд эффективной политики фондовая биржа

wage fund land resources; available farmland housing; housing facilities; available housing cultural fund Gorbachev Foundation Foundation for Effective Policy stock market

фракция группа членов какой- н. партии в парламенте, общественной организации или обособленная группировка внутри организации, партии

fraction A part as distinct from the whole of anything

Лидер фракции «Яблоко» в Госдуме Григорий Явлинский заявил, что в России надо сохранить свободу слова. Вот-вот могла образоваться шестидесятническая фракция в КПСС.

faction (definition doesn’t quite match, but seems the best of a set of poor alternatives); group, contingent (these are also acceptable, but they have a broader and less formal meaning than the Russian фракция). [NOTES: 1. “Caucus” is an exact definitional equivalent, but has a very American ring to it, since it has been used exclusively in the context of the U.S. Congress; 2. A New York Times dispatch from Jerusalem used “faction” in the same context for the Israeli Knesset]

циркуляр директивное распоряжение подведомственным учреждениям

circular an advertisement, letter, etc., usually prepared in quantities for extensive circulation

циркуляр ОГПУ Архиепископ Екатеринбургский и Верхотурский Викентий издал циркуляр, по которому священно-служителям Екатеринбургской епархии запрещается покупать или принимать в дар автомобили иностранного производства.

order (for distribution); directive (for distribution)

электроэнергия electrical energy В пресс-службе ОАО «Ульяновскэнерго» агентству «ИнтерфаксЕвразия» сообщили, что остановка транспорта была вызвана тем, что муниципальное предприятие «УльГЭС» ограничило подачу электроэнергии своим должникам.

(electric) power, electricity

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